Two Baker County steer wrestlers rank among world’s top six
Two Baker County bulldoggers sat fifth and sixth in the world, an unusually strong showing for a county of 16,668 people with two riders in the same elite race.
Baker County had something rare to brag about on its rodeo page: two steer wrestlers from the same small county sat inside the world top six at the same time. Mike McGinn of Haines was fifth with $51,095 in season earnings, and Jesse Brown of Baker City was sixth with $44,210, putting Baker County squarely in the national conversation.
That matters because the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association ranks steer wrestlers by prize money earned at sanctioned rodeos during the regular season, and only the top 15 qualify for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. In other words, every check McGinn and Brown collect between now and the end of the season helps determine whether they get back to rodeo’s biggest stage.
For a county that is one of Oregon’s 36 and had a population of 16,668 in the 2020 census, the standings are an outlier. Baker City is the county seat and largest city, and Haines is another foothold in the same county. Having two athletes from those communities ranked that high at once says something about more than individual talent. It points to a local rodeo pipeline built on repetition, instruction and a competition culture that keeps producing elite steer wrestlers.
Brown’s name already carried national weight before this latest update. In August 2024, he was chasing his fifth straight trip to the National Finals Rodeo. By December 2024, he had won the final round at the NFR in Las Vegas. Separate 2025 rodeo coverage also had him as high as No. 2 in the world standings, a sign that his place near the top was not a fluke but part of a sustained run.
McGinn’s presence beside Brown gives the county an even deeper stake in the standings. Baker County sports fans are not tracking a lone breakout cowboy from a distant arena; they are following two men who live in the same region, travel the same long circuit and depend on the same constant grind of entries, travel costs and prize money. In a sport where the road is expensive and the margins are thin, Baker County’s double showing was a reminder that world-class rodeo can grow from a place far smaller than the sport’s biggest stages.
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